Operation Patriot Care Package II

In case you missed it, Soldiers' Angels was featured on Hannity on Tuesday, December 28th:



A little background here.

Troops in Touch

Do you know any children who have either a deployed family member, or are involved with supporting other deployed troops? There is a great website you can use as a resource. Troops In Touch offers some activity packs for sale, but also has some free Flat Brat™ pictures and coloring pages for download.

Texas Army National Guard in Iraq

Most of the Yellow Ribbon events Soldiers' Angels has been represented at here in the Austin area have been for units within the 36th ID of the Texas Army National Guard. The 36th ID Headquarters are in Basra on a very historic mission "acting as a headquarters for nine provinces, and will oversee the drawdown of U.S. forces and while training Iraqi troops". Read the full story here.

Operation It's Me

One of the best gifts I have ever received was a one-of-a-kind painting. My best friend secretly took my favorite photo of my beloved cat, Sophia, and had another friend of hers recreate that image with brush and paint.

Now, imagine the joy the parent of a deployed service member at receiving a one-of-a-kind pencil or charcoal drawing of their Hero. Artist Susie Allen of Colorado is working with Soldiers' Angels to help make it happen:

Spurred to action when she realized that instead of just sympathizing with the burdens of military families, she could do something to hopefully lift the spirits of parents worried about their deployed child, Susie conceived Operation It's Me. “If I were waiting for the phone to ring and I ran to pick it up,” Susie explains. “I would want to hear, ‘Hi, Momma/Honey, it's me!’ When the package with the deployed hero's portrait comes to the recipient and they open it, that portrait should say, ‘Hi, it's ME!’”

Susie's artwork is provided at no cost to the parents. The art materials are provided by Blick Art Supplies and Soldiers' Angels helps with shipping. If you would like to see Susie's portfolio, visit her website.

To have a portrait of a deployed service member made for a parent, send clear, medium-sized pictures (no taller/wider than 1200 pixels) of the service member to itsme@soldiersangels.org, along with any stories or descriptions of the service member that you think will help Susie get a sense of who he/she is in relationship to the parent(s).

T'was a Night in December

Georgia Soldiers' Angels needs your help!

All you have to do it click and vote!

Here's another great opportunity to support the troops with just the click of a mouse!

Soldiers' Angels Georgia is in the running for $1000 to help with their massive annual Christmas Stocking project for National Guardsmen deployed from their state, but they need your help! You can help SA Georgia win the DollarDays.com Community Pride photo contest, simply by voting for them with a click of your mouse. Currently, SA Georgia is in 4th place, but the 1st place project has twice as many votes!

The Dollar Days contest challenges nonprofit customers to use a photo to show how they use Dollar Days purchases in their charity work. SA Georgia's photo shows a happy soldier who has received a care package from Georgia Angels, one of the average of 5,000 they send every year.

Supporters can vote once per email address, per day, and the deadline is December 31, 2010. Please share this link with your friends and families, add to your Facebook page or any forums in which you participate.

Put your mouse to work and help Georgia Angels support the troops! (And don't forget to use the buttons here to spread the word!)

Click to Vote, Share and Comment!

Photo Title : Christmas For The Troops!

Deadline for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay Extended

The original deadline for service members to apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay (RSLSP) was this past Friday, December 3rd. The deadline has been extended to Saturday, December 18th.

From Defense.gov:

RSLSP was established to compensate military members whose service was involuntarily extended under Stop Loss between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009. Eligible members or their beneficiaries are required to submit a claim to their respective military service in order to receive the benefit of $500 for each full or partial month served in a Stop Loss status.

When RSLSP began on Oct. 21, 2009, the services estimated 145,000 service members, veterans and beneficiaries were eligible. Because the majority of those eligible had separated from the military, the services have engaged in extensive and persistent outreach efforts throughout the year. Efforts including direct mail, engaging military and veteran service organizations, social networks and media outlets, will continue throughout the period of eligibility.

RSLSP can be applied for online. Each service branch had a website specifically for this process. Links to each of those pages can be found here. Also:

If eligible members do not have internet access, they should print, complete and sign Department of Defense Form 2944, Claim for Retroactive Stop Loss Payment. Next, choose the appropriate method for submitting the claim form and available supporting documents based on your service specifications. This information can be found on your service's stop loss Web site.

Wiihab

Last month, the community of milbloggers raised $95,205 for Soldiers' Angels Project Valour-IT. While this project started out with the goal of providing laptops with voice-activated software to severely wounded troops, it has since expanded to include other technologies. Personal GPS systems help build self-confidence and independence by compensating for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to severe TBI and severe PTSD. Wii video game systems provided to medical facilities to assist with physical rehabilitation.

You might wonder how a video game would help with physical rehabilitation:

Using the game console's unique, motion-sensitive controller, Wii games require body movements similar to traditional therapy exercises. But patients become so engrossed mentally they are almost oblivious to the rigor, Osborn said.

"In the Wii system, because it's kind of a game format, it does create this kind of inner competitiveness. Even though you may be boxing or playing tennis against some figure on the screen, it's amazing how many of our patients want to beat their opponent," said Osborn of Southern Illinois Healthcare, which includes the hospital in Herrin. The hospital, about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis, bought a Wii system for rehab patients late last year.

"When people can refocus their attention from the tediousness of the physical task, oftentimes they do much better," Osborn said.

This kind of therapy seems ideal when working with wounded troops:

The Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital west of Chicago recently bought a Wii system for its spinal cord injury unit.

Pfc. Matthew Turpen, 22, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident last year while stationed in Germany, plays Wii golf and bowling from his wheelchair at Hines. Turpen says the games help beat the monotony of rehab and seem to be doing his body good, too.

"A lot of guys don't have full finger function so it definitely helps being able to work on using your fingers more and figuring out different ways to use your hands" and arms, Turpen said.

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the therapy is well-suited to patients injured during combat in Iraq, who tend to be in the 19 to 25 age range — a group that's "very into" playing video games, said Lt. Col. Stephanie Daugherty, Walter Reed's chief of occupational therapy.

"They think it's for entertainment, but we know it's for therapy," she said.

While the big annual fundraiser by the milblogs may be over, the need for our wounded troops is always ongoing. If you can, please consider donating to Project Valour-IT.